Quicksilver

This application has been one of my must haves on my new systems for a while now. I have been unable to write anything about it on this blog because, although it's freely available, the source code has not been given. Luckily, blacktree have recently opened up the source and made it freely available on Google Code under the Apache license.

Many people describe Quicksilver as an application launcher, which is true, and it is very good as one, but it is so much more. I use it as a file browser and file launcher, iTunes controller, quick contact lookup, URL launcher and as a quick way into many other apps, e.g. to launch a blank email with a certain file attached to it with just a few keystrokes.

As I just mentioned, Quicksilver uses keystrokes and key combinations to execute different actions. You can also set up tiggers that will do a wide variety of tasks. Some simple tiggers that I have on my system are, F2 launches Firefox, F3 launches mail.app.

You can also use it to do more complex tasks without having to touch your mouse. For example you could summon quicksilver (I use double tap command key), navigate to a file, hit tab to move to the next pane, hit 'o' and then 'p', which for me brings up 'open file with...', then press tab again and start to type the name of the app you would like to open that file with. I find this a lot quicker than having to open up a finder window, navigate around then have to right click.

The best way to get into quicksilver, I believe is to download it and just start using it to launch apps and files and slowly work your way into it. A very good resource for tutorials and ideas is Merlin Mann's 43 Folders website.